A Cosmic Delivery – NASA Receives Samples of Asteroid Ryugu - Nasa daily picture for December 14 (2021)

In this image, a Hayabusa2 sample canister containing sample fragments of the asteroid Ryugu was transferred from JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, to NASA on Nov. 30, 2021.

Scientists at ARES, the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Division at the Johnson Space Center were among those selected to study samples retrieved by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft and returned to Earth in late 2020. NASA received 23 millimeter-sized grains and 4 containers of even finer material from Ryugu – 10 percent of the total collected – from JAXA on Nov. 30. 

Image Credit: NASA/Robert Markowitz

Source: www.nasa.gov